


Nightmare

by rabid_plotbunny



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anthro, M/M, Multi, S/G/A established, angsty crack!fic at that, crack!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 07:11:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18338714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabid_plotbunny/pseuds/rabid_plotbunny
Summary: Genesis has a wriggly nightmare.





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> Original fanfic posted to IJ/LJ 05-25-2009, Omake new April 3, 2019

Genesis sat up abruptly, eyes flying wide, sweat springing up cold and chill on his skin, the memory of his panicked cry of denial echoing in the silent room. His heart was beating hard, sending adrenaline-spiked blood surging through his system, his breathing ragged as no normal spar could make it. A quick glance around the room and he relaxed slightly - but _only_ slightly - as he took in the empty room. Well, that wasn't exactly true; the room wasn't _completely_ empty, furnished as any bedroom should be as it was, but it _was_ empty of both strangers and far-too-familiar men in lab coats.

A rustle of sheets then Angeal spoke, voice heavy with sleep, one eye stuck shut until he rubbed it with one big hand. "Mmmm. Genesis?" he asked sleepily, propping himself up on one elbow, one of those big hands coming up to rub the redhead's back soothingly. "What's wrong?"

"Another nightmare?" came the half-yawned query from Genesis' other side, sheets rustling again as Sephiroth sat up, long hair hanging in sleep-tousled disarray, mind still half-fogged with sleep, looking so unbearably _cute_ that even the traumatized Genesis couldn't hold back a content grin. A long-fingered hand, warm from its stay beneath the blankets, came to rest reassuringly on the redhead's thigh.

Genesis simply nodded in reply, a chill rushing through him as the memory of his dream returned in unpleasant flashes.

"Want to talk about it?" Angeal again, sounding somewhat more awake now.

It was almost always Angeal who would ask him that when he woke from one of his frequent nightmares. Sephiroth, by contrast, didn't usually speak; preferring action to words as he gave silent reassurance that he was there if Genesis needed him. It was actually rather comforting. It was surprising how much their simply being there helped sometimes.

Especially in times like those.

Genesis nodded again. A deep breath then he spoke, tone a hushed, fearful shadow of its usual self. "It was... the labs again," he said. Even speaking of it brought dream-memory to the forefront and he almost visibly shrank into himself with remembered fear, going still as a hunted animal. "I think it was a dream. I hope it was, and not a memory!"

"What happened?"

Nightmares about their time in the labs were all too common for all three, and the worst of it was that sometimes the dreams were a thousand times less vicious than the reality. None of them had ever been able to escape lab-time whenever Hojo and Hollander thought up some new experiment. Not since they were officially declared Shinra's prototype SOLDIERs by the president and given over to the Science Department, their lives signed away by a President with dreams of conquering the world with an army of super-soldiers. 

What were a mere three lives in the face of that much greed?

Every new enhancement was tried and perfected on them first before being given to the 'regular' SOLDIERs. If those enhancements made them ill, if there were any side-effects, none of it mattered to either the scientists or the President except for how it could affect that branch of their research. The earlier, competing experimentation had been bad enough, but now that Hojo and Hollander had joined forces it was almost unbearable.

The stuff nightmares were made of.

"It... it was just... a nightmare, I think," Genesis said at last, eyes averted though it seemed like they always drifted back to his legs, hidden beneath the sheets, almost fearfully. "They wanted to make SOLDIERs more versatile, faster, able to go anywhere no matter the terrain. They took these genes and... implanted them and... _someone please tell me I don't really have tentacles!_ "

Genesis' half-panicked cry had barely faded when he threw himself into Angeal's arms, buried his face against the broad chest and squinched his eyes tightly closed even as big, strong arms closed reassuringly around him, a chaste kiss landing on top of his head.

Fully awake now, Sephiroth reached for the edge of the sheets. He paused, lifted them, then peered into the darkness beneath. Let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding when he saw only the limbs that were _supposed_ to be there.

"It's all right, Genesis," he said, returning his hand to its resting-place on the redhead's thigh and rubbing reassuringly.

One Mako-blue eye opened, peered at him. "No tentacles?" came the almost childish query.

"No tentacles."

Genesis' sigh of relief was obvious, as was the way the tension melted from his frame. Red hair parted and fell gracefully into place as black-tufted red ears, formerly slicked back in unhappy apprehension, once again became their usual perky selves and his bushy red tail thumped in relief, some of the puffiness vanishing with his fear. Wing-feathers settled back into place along with the wing itself.

One either side of him his friends and lovers were having similar reactions.

Silver ears perked once more atop an equally silvery head, pointed claws retracted back into finger-pads, and a long, slim silver tail curled around to loop around Genesis' leg, his wing settling at his back once more.

Angeal's ears were almost lost in the spikes of his hair but the reassuring thump of his fluffy black tail on the mattress was unmistakable and the way his wing spread to cover them all, to shelter and protect, was reassuring.

"Good," Genesis breathed as they settled back into the warm blankets to resume their interrupted slumber in a big ball of naked skin, fur, and feathers. "I mean what kind of freak has _tentacles?_ "

**END**

\--  
**Omake**

Hollander reviewed the previous night's activity, fast-forwarding through the recorded video of the three sleeping until he saw Genesis pop up, awake, and the three start talking. _Another nightmare,_ he thought dispassionately even as he hit the button to slow the playback to normal speed and bring up the audio, making a note of the disturbance in the nightly log. He should probably speak to Hojo about introducing some kind of soporific into their environment; too much interruption to the sleep schedule could affect their ongoing experiments, after all.

He listened with half an ear to Genesis' typical histrionics right up until he heard the redhead's distraught " _someone please tell me I don't really have tentacles!_ "

Hollander perked up, eyes brightening in glee, a smile spreading across his face as he scrambled for new paper, pen scribbling furiously. Tentacles? The _possibilities...!_

Now he _definitely_ needed to talk to Hojo!

**END**


End file.
